Nasir Khusraw
is acknowledged as one of the foremost poets of the Persian language. Born
in the Balkh district of Central Asia in 394/1004, Nasir was inspired from
an early age by a tremendous thirst for knowledge. His intellectual abilities
brought him much fame, a promising career in government service, and a
life of ease and pleasure. But he was always dissatisfied by a lack of
meaning and purpose in his life until one day, at the age of 42, he was
dramatically transformed by a visionary dream. He converted to Ismailism,
renounced his worldly life and embarked on his famous seven-year journey
to Egypt. Nasir arrived in Cairo in 439/1047, where he stayed for three
years and became acquainted with Ismaili dignitaries such as Al
Muayyad Fi Din Al Shirazi.

He was appointed to a high rank
in the Fatimid da'wa organization, and was later regarded as the hujja
of greater Khurasan. When he returned to Transoxania, Nasir established
his residence at Balkh, from where he began to propogate the Ismaili faith
in the surrounding provinces. But Nasir's success provoked the local people
to burn down his house and compel him to seek refuge in Yumgan, a remote
mountainous region of Badakhshan, today situated on both sides of the Oxus
river in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Nasir spent the remainder of his life
there, writing his philosophical works and composing poetry until his death
after 465/1072. He is venerated to this day in Central Asia as a great
saint, poet and philosopher. The following poems are from his Diwan, ed.
N. Taqawi (Tehran, 1925-28), also edited by M. Minuwi and M. Muhaqqiq (Tehran,
1974).